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Feminine Genius

The first time I came across the term “Feminine Genius” was at a FOCUS women’s bible study group when I was in undergrad. During our bible study, we reflected on what it means to be a woman and how the feminist movement and the current culture of objectification of women had totally distorted the dignity of women. It was through that bible study that I learned about the encyclical Mulieris Dignitatem: On the Dignity and Vocation of Women and John Paul II’s Letter to Women.

The way Pope John Paul II expressed the dignity, worth and gift of women was truly inspiring, penetrating and challenging. From reading those documents, it was easy to see how much he respected women and how much he desired to heal and educate both men and women about the dignity of women. He explained ever more powerfully that a woman’s dignity was equal to man’s and he helped to clarify that equality didn’t mean equality in beings or functions. In Mulieris Dignitatem, he underlines that women, “together with men, [have] a common responsibility for the destiny of humanity”. He emphasized that a woman’s vocation is just as important as a man’s vocation. Pope pointed out that the natural gift of man and woman were different and he identified the God-given gifts of women to be related to her receptivity and he called it the “feminine genius”.

As I became more interested in studying about the topic of Feminine Genius, I started reading many books and started listening to talks related to that. I can honestly say that, even though it was my intellectual curiosity that first interested me to the topic 3 years ago, the study completely changed me: from inside out. It helped me put into perspective what it means to be a daughter of God and to experience the unconditional love of Father God. In the presence of the unconditional love of the Father, I was able to recognize my specific gifts and my weaknesses, both of which brought me to my knees - in gratitude and genuine petitions for more grace. When I realized that my friends shared the same interest in learning about Feminine Genius, we started getting together to pray, reflect and help each other in our journeys. Staying at a convent, and living with and learning from several JY families helped to see the beauty of the two vocations and to be open to both. The month-long JY mission trip to Haiti helped me to recognize that as Catholics, our prayer-ground and our “play-ground” as missionaries extends to the whole world, not just the immediate circles we belong to, after all, we as women share a common responsibility for the destiny of the whole humanity. I hope and pray that we be able to live out what we are studying, as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, and as a missionary.